Britain: Lifeless, defeated and living an “over the top” moment

In the First World War, Britain’s psychopathic generals sent millions of men to their deaths, ordering them “over the top” into the direct line of fire

What has happened to the United Kingdom? What has happened to its people, full of flair, known for their inventions, their contribution to music, their inventiveness, their bravery and their determination to protect their nation even in times of its darkest hours?

They have done this time and again while the mesh which makes up the fabric of the peoples of the UK formed, a mix of many tribes from across Europe, from the first Celts who walked across the land bridge between what is now the Netherlands and East Anglia, to the nomadic tribes which moved in from the Continent at a later date – the Atrebates (France/Belgium), the Belgae, then later the Roman legions with their myriad patchwork of nationalities, the unwanted Angles and Saxons and Jutes from Northern Germany (the British tribes asked the Romans to send a legion to help them numerous times, which they did willingly), then the Vikings and finally the Normans. Looking at the country today, with its ten languages, we see a pan-European reality which is the essence of the British peoples.

The majority of the British people do not want Brexit

Today, with most British people not wanting Brexit, at all, especially the young whose future is at stake, especially the Scots where not one single constituency voted for Brexit, especially Northern Ireland which voted Remain, what do we see? The entire population slumped in their armchairs, saying “yeah whatever” as an apparently unhinged Prime Minister Theresa May vows to march the lemmings off the cliff on March 29, come what may, and to Hell with the consequences. In an insult to democracy she ignores the calls for a Second Referendum and where is the Opposition, which is supposed to represent the people if the government cannot?

The population in general has given up, shrugged and accepted defeat at the hand of a few conservative elements who did not have a clue what they were doing on the day of the Referendum in 2016. Many of those who voted for Brexit are now dead, many younger people can now vote and although the British media has launched a virtual blackout of the Remain cause while poster campaigns showing former Remainers saying they now wish to Leave proliferate, the demographic reality is that today the majority of the British people do not want Brexit.

What Brexit really means

And why not? Because they are not stupid. They know that today the world is composed of large trading blocks. They know that economies are no longer autarkic but inter-linked and global. They know that when you belong to a large trading block you do your trade with that block without paying. They know that if you leave, you have to pay to do the same trade, but without any voice in the proceedings. They know that the UK does half its trade with the EU. They know that some pie-in-the-sky quixotesque idea about suddenly doing trade with New Zealand 11,393 miles away is not the answer because switching from trading with a block the other side of the channel and doing deals with far-flung former colonies involves something called transportation costs. They know that the EU 27 will stick together as a trading block of some 450 million people while the UK tries to turn itself into some kind of nationalist, racist rathole of some 65 million.

Yet what do they do? The Brexiteers, mainly the elderly, the uneducated, the nationalists, those living in cloud cuckoo land and the sickenking opportunists orchestrating them with campaigns of nonsense and barefaced lies, are standing back and cheering from the sidelines. But what about the majority, the Remainers?

Look at the Media and you find a virtual blackout of statistics indicating that today a Remain vote would garner a 60% approval, indeed it is easy to see memes of people who claimed that they voted Remain but now want to Leave, a clear sign of manipulation and an attempt by the authorities to hide the ugly truth that the British electorate made a mistake, and in no other country on Earth would a too-close-to-call decision on such a huge issue in a consultative referendum be allowed to destroy the country.

Yet Theresa May ploughs ahead and people sit at home blinking at the television set, as they see the future of their country being taken away from them, led by someone whose department “lost” the child sex abuse papers regarding shocking allegations of pedophilia at Westminster, by someone who spent two and a half years negotiating a deal with the EU, signed it with the other 27 members without speaking to anyone at home, and only then decided to put it through Parliament, eventually, got utterly humiliated, then today comes back and expects the 27 to change.

Like, is she unhinged, or what?

Where are the British people? Sitting on their backsides saying “yeah, whatever”. If the politicians are worried about the backlash from the Brexiteers if they do not deliver Brexit, then they should be more worried about the Remainers, now clearly a majority, if they do. To avoid a disaster, people have to make their voice heard through all the legal means available.

Brexit, in the opinion of the vast majority of experts, will spell disaster for the UK. The Union will probably break up (why should Scotland and Northern Ireland be dragged out of the EU just because a percentage of English people did not understand the implications of what they were doing?), prices will inevitably rise, exports will fall, jobs will be lost, massively, the pound will drop, the economic spiral will turn downwards, exponentially and within six months the entire population will be clamoring to come back inside.

To the back of the queue. Other candidates will now be ahead

It is sad to see a country sell its future over such ridiculous and unfounded ideals, to see the UK’s youth facing a sad, limited life while the EU party carries on, the other side of the Channel. Even sadder, to see a population cowed into submission, disinterested, defeated, sullen, sad and so silent. It is sickening to see such a total lack of information, and common sense, in an entire population. The conclusion is that the British people are no longer what they were, or what they have always claimed to be. It is a nation of racist, nationalistic couch potatoes allowing a lunatic to lead them off the cliff. One would find more energy and verve among a smack of jellyfish floundering on some beach after David Cameron has stung them.

Main picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin#/media/File:Pied_Piper2.jpg

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey works in the area of teaching, consultancy, coaching, translation, revision of texts, copy-writing and journalism. Director and Chief Editor of the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru since 2002, and now Co-Editor of the English version, he contributes regularly to several other publications in Portuguese and English. He has worked in the printed and online media, in daily, weekly, monthly and yearly magazines and newspapers. A firm believer in multilateralism as a political approach and multiculturalism as a means to bring people and peoples together, he is Official Media Partner of UN Women, fighting for gender equality and Media Partner with Humane Society International, promoting animal rights. His hobbies include sports, in which he takes a keen interest, traveling, networking to protect the rights of LGBTQI communities and victims of gender violence, and cataloging disappearing languages, cultures and traditions around the world. A keen cook, he enjoys trying out different cuisines and regards cooking and sharing as a means to understand cultures and bring people together.